Image provided by invisibleman.com

(Note: This is Jawz’ (yes, it’s a nickname) first piece for 4SB outside of his production of the podcast! It’s a tough life for a Sox fan living in Northern NJ and working in Manhattan, and here is one crystal clear example of that.)

I woke up late Friday morning in no rush to face what lay before me.  My commute from New Jersey to Mid Town Manhattan takes roughly an hour, but today was special and I knew it, I was in no rush.  I wiped the sleep from my eyes and took my time finishing my morning coffee, dragging my feet all the way to the train.  It didn’t take more than 5 minutes before I saw it.  An ocean of navy blue and pinstripes clogged my entire commute.  Men, women, frat boys, fathers, sons, even toddlers were all dressed in Yankee blue and far too cheery before 9am. 

On Friday, New York City celebrated the Yankees 27^th World Series Championship with a ticker-tape parade, and as the masses descended on Manhattan and my morning commute got caught right in the middle of it.  But it was about far more than just that one morning. 

Image courtesy of our friends over at YankeesFansSuck.com

When you’re looking at a commuter train full of true blue Yankees fans, the best thing you can do is sit there and bite your tongue.  You listen to their chants, the cheers and jeers.  In the office coworkers celebrate and watch the parade on TV, when you’re prompted for a celebratory high five and you decline you’re looked at as a leper.  It’s impossible to go more than 5 minutes in the day without a reminder.  But that’s not even the worst part.  If it was just that one day it would be easy to suck it up, brush it all off and go back to life as normal.  No, for the first time in 9 years this celebration will continue on, for the next year every conversation had with a Yankees fan will be ended with a reminder, a jab, or a flash of the inevitable new shirt bearing the 27^th ring.  And through it all, we will simply have to return to those three famous words every Bostonian has come to know so well:

Maybe next year.